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Monday, December 2, 2013

Miss Peep died overnight. She had been ailing for a few weeks. Something attacked her -- other chickens? Predator? I found the coop full of black and white feathers, and Miss Peep roosting away from all the others. After a few days it became necessary to put her in an isolation pen to make sure that Rooster didn't mount her. I think she may have had internal injuries. Yesterday I picked her up to nuzzle her and it was clear that something gave her pain. Then overnight she died.

Miss Peep was the first chick ever to hatch at Busy Solitude Farm. In fact, her arrival inspired me to begin this blog. You will remember that first post, in September of 2007. I was fascinated by the hen and chick relationship, so close, so instinctual. And as I did not yet know whether she was a girl or a boy, I called her Chick Chuck!

Gradually her self confidence built. The others came to accept her. In time, Miss Peep was at the top of the pecking order, respected by all. But she never challenged me. She was the tamest hen I ever had, leaning in when I scratched her ears, allowing me to stroke her feathers and nuzzle her with no hesitation.

She lived six years at Busy Solitude Farm. I think she was happy. We'll miss her.

I'm so sorry to hear about Miss Peep's passing. What a beautiful, affectionate girl she was.And I was sorry to read about Luke's passing too. I've had cats for years and adore them. It's always wrenching when the time comes to let them go. You gave Luke such a wonderful memorial. I feel like I knew him. That little tongue sticking out, cuddling with you, such sweetness.

On solitude and chickens

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. -- Thoreau

There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall. -- Colette

I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other. -- Rilke

As innocent as a new-laid egg. -- W. S. Gilbert

Raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens. --Anonymous, but my mother gave it to me!

Language...has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone. --Paul Johannes Tillich

Life begins when you plant a garden. -- Chinese proverb

The great omission in American life is solitude...that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit. --Marya Mannes

If you were born lucky, even your rooster will lay eggs. -- Russian proverb

When the superficial wearies me, it wearies me so much that I need an abyss in order to rest. --Antonio Porchia

Cocks may crow, but it's the hen that lays the eggs. -- Attr. Margaret Thatcher

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. -- Henry David Thoreau